Marijuana users score: 38 out of 100Cannabis-related Google search score: 28 out of 100Legal status score: 66 out of 100Publicly-expressed interest score: 34 out of 100Affordability score: 43 out of 100

Marijuana users score: 55 out of 100Cannabis-related Google search score: 38 out of 100Legal status score: 66 out of 100Publicly-expressed interest score: 33 out of 100Affordability score: 36 out of 100

Marijuana users score: 74 out of 100Cannabis-related Google search score: 32 out of 100Legal status score: 66 out of 100Publicly-expressed interest score: 17 out of 100Affordability score: 41 out of 100

Marijuana users score: 64 out of 100Cannabis-related Google search score: 53 out of 100Legal status score: 100 out of 100Publicly-expressed interest score: 26 out of 100Affordability score: 3 out of 100

Marijuana users score: 29 out of 100Cannabis-related Google search score: 49 out of 100Legal status score: 66 out of 100Publicly-expressed interest score: 45 out of 100Affordability score: 68 out of 100

Marijuana users score: 39 out of 100Cannabis-related Google search score: 42 out of 100Legal status score: 66 out of 100Publicly-expressed interest score: 51 out of 100Affordability score: 63 out of 100

Marijuana users score: 90 out of 100Cannabis-related Google search score: 47 out of 100Legal status score: 66 out of 100Publicly-expressed interest score: 20 out of 100Affordability score: 41 out of 100

Marijuana users score: 43 out of 100Cannabis-related Google search score: 47 out of 100Legal status score: 66 out of 100Publicly-expressed interest score: 38 out of 100Affordability score: 79 out of 100

Marijuana users score: 84 out of 100Cannabis-related Google search score: 53 out of 100Legal status score: 66 out of 100Publicly-expressed interest score: 35 out of 100Affordability score: 51 out of 100

Marijuana users score: 56 out of 100Cannabis-related Google search score: 60 out of 100Legal status score: 66 out of 100Publicly-expressed interest score: 45 out of 100Affordability score: 64 out of 100

Marijuana users score: 85 out of 100Cannabis-related Google search score: 58 out of 100Legal status score: 66 out of 100Publicly-expressed interest score: 32 out of 100Affordability score: 54 out of 100

Marijuana users score: 46 out of 100Cannabis-related Google search score: 42 out of 100Legal status score: 66 out of 100Publicly-expressed interest score: 100 out of 100Affordability score: 72 out of 100

Marijuana users score: 79 out of 100Cannabis-related Google search score: 36 out of 100Legal status score: 100 out of 100Publicly-expressed interest score: 38 out of 100Affordability score: 100 out of 100

Marijuana users score: 81 out of 100Cannabis-related Google search score: 79 out of 100Legal status score: 100 out of 100Publicly-expressed interest score: 21 out of 100Affordability score: 89 out of 100

Marijuana users score: 100 out of 100Cannabis-related Google search score: 100 out of 100Legal status score: 100 out of 100Publicly-expressed interest score: 57 out of 100Affordability score: 85 out of 100

HARTFORD -- People suffering from Muscular Dystrophy, rheumatoid arthritis, the pain of fibromyalgia and shingles should be allowed to join the state's medical marijuana program.

That was the recommendation Wednesday from a panel of doctors. However, the group of physicians rejected three of the seven petitions — including for eczema, osteoarthritis and emphysema.

While not final action, the Board of Physicians' recommendation to Consumer Protection Commissioner Jonathan Harris will be reviewed and is likely to be ruled on over the next few weeks.

Regina Walsh of New Canaan told the panel that medical cannabis could be the answer to the discomfort that her 95-year-old father, George J. Walsh, a Navy veteran of World War II, feels after a painful bout of the shingles virus.

While he remains active and alert, Walsh, who lives in an assisted-living community in Darien, is still affected by the painful skin condition that broke out on his back.

“Shingles is the one thing that’s taking him down,” Regina Walsh said. “There is really no cure for shingles. Enough research has been done both nationally and internationally, to point a direction that this can be effective for shingles,” Regina Walsh told the doctors.

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In their first meeting since expanding to eight members, the group of physicians, who range from pain specialists to psychiatrists and pediatricians, focused on marijuana’s ability to treat pain and discomfort.

In fact, the board had caveats for the approval of fibromyalgia and shingles, and sufferers must display symptoms of pain in order to join the nearly two-and-a-half-year-old medical cannabis program. The program will soon expand to nine dispensaries and four growers.

If approved by Harris, who has not rejected any disease or ailments that have been endorsed by the doctors, it could be up to a year before the afflictions join the 22 debilitating conditions for which the current 15,136 patients are eligible.

"I find that the system has failed these patients," said Dr. Mitchell Prywes, a Danbury-based pain specialist. He said that fibromyalgia is a complex condition.

The six doctors who attended the meeting stressed the need for patients to be in pain to become eligible, and that marijuana has been shown to be an effective alternative to opiates.

Dr. Vincent R. Carlesi, another pain specialist with offices in Ridgefield and Stamford, called medical cannabis “the least of the negatives as far as the treatment we have” for fibromyalgia, which has symptoms of bodily pain, fatigue and loss of sleep.

“It’s a better option for them,” Carlesi said, noting that overweight people can have their respiration suppressed by narcotics. “Opiates are really not the right medication for these patients.”

Prywes stressed the need to include marijuana in the wider-ranging protocol for fibromyalgia patients.

“Cannabis has a role, but without a broader program, we might be selling them short,” he said.

“This is about alternative health care choices that people with serious medical conditions can make with their doctors,” said Harris, who serves as the board’s non-voting chairman.

He stressed that since September 2014, when the program started providing marijuana to patients, the percentage who smoke the dried flowers of the plant has decreased sharply. Now, many patients use skin gels, sub-lingual strips in their mouths, as well as vaporizing devices that reduce the effect of smoking on patients’ lungs.